Outstanding individual scores have Jags' golf team off to a solid start

The Valley Center varsity boys golf team has posted a trio of outstanding team scores behind excellent individual play so far this season, as the Jaguars have won two of their first three matches to start the year.
All three matches so far have been on the par-35 course at the Pauma Valley Country Club, and the Jags started out the season there by beating Canyon Crest Academy, 212 – 214.
Kevin Murphy fired a 41 to lead the Jaguars, while Paul Calac and Jeremy Halligan each shot a 42, Kamron Zarrabi shot a 43 and Stephen Magnani shot a 44.
The Jaguars suffered a setback in their second match, falling to San Marcos 219 – 228.
Murphy, Calac and Zarrabi each shot a 43 to lead the team, while Cole Kline shot a 45, Halligan shot a 54 and Danny Miller shot a 56.
This week, the Jaguars hosted Escondido on Thursday and rolled to a 214–223 win.
Calac shot a four-over-par 39 for the best score of the season so far, while Zarrabi shot a 42, Kline shot a 43, Murphy and Magnani each shot a 45 and Carlos Casteel shot a 52.
Valley Center is now 2–1 overall with the City Cup Tournament coming up at the Escondido Country Club on Monday.

Oros, Smith finish in top ten in CIF Masters wrestling tournament

Two Valley Center wrestlers finished in the top ten in the CIF Masters wrestling tournament this weekend.
Juan Oros finished sixth at 105 pounds and Dylan Smith finished seventh at 173 pounds to finish off the wrestling season for the Jaguars.
Oros, Smith and Dustin Miller (114 pounds) each earned All-Valley League first team honors for their outstanding seasons, while second team honors went to Daquota Avila (137 pounds), Damian Stehly (162 pounds) and Travis Weddington (217 pounds).

Oros wins section title, Jags finish second in CIF wrestling tournament

Juan Oros shows off his medal and winning bracket from the CIF tournament.

The Jaguars finished second in CIF Division IV this season.

Senior wrestler Juan Oros won the 105-pound division to lead the Valley Center varsity wrestling team to a second place finish in the CIF Division IV wrestling tournament at Olympian High School on Saturday.
The Jaguars tallied 179.5 points to finish just behind tournament winner Clairemont with 190 points, and will send eight wrestlers to the Masters meet on Saturday. The Jags beat out the rest of the top five: La Jolla in third with 170.5, Imperial in fourth with 164.5 and Olympian in fifth with 145.5.
Oros came back late in the match to pull out a 6–4 decision over Tirso Lara of Imperial in the championship round, after rolling through the first three matches of the day with lightning-fast pins.
Meanwhile, Dylan Smith finished second in the 162-pound division after falling to Matt Vasquez of La Jolla in a 4–3 decision that went to four overtime periods before a champion was crowned.
In the third place matches, both Dustin Miller at 114 pounds and Lorenzo Gomez at 287 pounds won to secure a top-three spot for the Jaguars. Miller won a 5–0 decision over Jerrick Ello of Olympian, while Gomez won a 3–1 decision over Lance Angulo of Holtville.
Four of Valley Center’s wrestlers made it to the third place matches, only to suffer losses because of the five-match rule. Those four Jaguars were Manny Boyle at 121 pounds, Daquota Avila at 137 pounds, Kyle Glennie at 191 pounds and Travis Weddington at 217 pounds.
Those eight wrestlers—Oros, Smith, Miller, Gomez, Boyle, Avila, Glennie and Weddington—will represent Valley Center in the CIF San Diego Section Masters Tournament this Friday and Saturday at Canyon Crest Academy.

(photos by Gabriel Santana)

Five wrestlers take first place as Jaguars win Escondido Rumble

On Friday, 26 Valley Center wrestlers traveled to Escondido High School for a two-day wrestling extravaganza called The Rumble, and after a day that lived up to its name, the Jaguars came away with the tournament championship.
Each wrestler was guaranteed five matches, and those with highest win/loss records were entered into the medal tournament, where they could wrestle three additional matches. Sixteen Jaguars advanced to the medals’ tournament, with five winning championships in their respective classes—Sam McCuskey (98 pounds), Dustin Miller (106 pounds), Manny Boyle (122 pounds), Damian Stehly (173 pounds) and Travis Weddington (217 pounds).
Meanwhile, John Mayo took second at 98 pounds and Trevor Ryback finished third at 115 pounds. Four Valley Center wrestlers took fourth—John Murphy (114 pounds), James Oakley (122 pounds), Daquota Avila (138 pounds) and Kevin Izadi (heavyweight).
Five Jags finished seventh in the tournament—Zach Dewey (128 pounds), Kaulana Miller (128 pounds), Christian Guerrero (133 pounds), Jesus Diaz (191 pounds) and Lorenzo Gomez (heavyweight).
After more than 120 individual matches, 11 Jaguars earned medals for finishing in the top four.
But the biggest surprise of the day was winning the tournament championship. The tournament’s design is give underclassmen more opportunity to wrestle prior the entering the CIF tournaments. The Jaguars gained valuable experience that will be helpful for this coming CIF Division IV Tournament coming up on Saturday at Olympian High School in Chula Vista. Wrestling begins at 9 a.m. with the championship finals scheduled at 6 p.m.
The Valley Center wrestlers suffered a setback with a league finale loss to Del Norte High School, 39–27, on Thursday.
Two forfeits and some lackluster performances led the Jaguars to their demise, but two Jags won by pin—Juan Oros at 105 pounds and Dustin Miller at 114 pounds—while Christian Guerrero won a 5–4 decision at 132 pounds and Dylan Smith won a technical fall at 173 pounds.
The Jaguars finish the season in third place in Valley League with a 3–2 league record and a 4-4 overall mark.

Jags take fifth in San Ysidro wrestling tournament

With the Division IV CIF Wrestling Tournament three weeks away, the Valley Center varsity wrestling team has finally jelled into a very competitive team.
After taking a fifth place finish out of 23 schools at the San Ysidro Tournament and trailing by only six points top-ranked Clairemont High School, the Jaguars find themselves in store for an exciting season finale.
Other schools that will make the race interesting for championship are returning Division IV champions Imperial, Olympian , and Palo Verde high schools. Whichever school comes with the best effort will win the championship.
The Jaguars had eight place winners in the tournament. Juan Oros won his finals match with a 12-second pin over San Ysidro’s Miguel Flores. Dylan Smith made his second trip to the finals, earning a second place finish. Manny Boyle made his debut with third place victory over Mission Hills’ Marcus Cummiskey. Fourth place finishers were Dustin Miller, Christian Guerrero, Kyle Glennie, and fifth place finishers were Daquota Avila and Damian Stehly.
The Jaguars also earned their second consecutive team victory with a win over Guajome Park Academy, 56–6 on Thursday.
Freshmen Matt Barnes (154 pounds) will win his first varsity match with a 1:07 pin over opponent Jerod Adams. Also winning by pin were John Murphy (105 pounds), Dustin Miller (114 pounds), Daquota Avila (137 pounds), Pedro Flores (162 pounds), Kyle Glennie (191 pounds) and Jean-Marc Brierre (285 pounds). Christian Guerrero (142 pounds) won an 8–2 decision and Kevin Murphy (147 pounds) received a win by forfeit.
Valley Center is 2–1 in league so far, and the Jaguars hit the mat again on Thursday at home against Canyon Crest at 7 p.m.

Jags win first home wrestling dual meet in three years

Dustin Miller flips over in the 103-pound match:
Connor MacFarlane twists to get out of a hold in the 112-pound match:
Trevor Ryback fought back from certain doom to win the 119-pound match:
Zach Dewey fights for position in the 130-pound match:
Daquota Avila rolls over his opponent in the 140-pound match:
Kevin Murphy sizes up his opponent in the 145-pound match:
Damian Stehly gets his opponent off the ground in the 160-pound match:
Dylan Smith goes for a hold in the 171-pound match:
Jeremy Halligan grapples with his opponent in the 189-pound match:
Travis Weddington tries to get the upper hand in the 215-pound match:
photos by Dan Kidder

Despite missing one of its top wrestlers, the Valley Center varsity wrestling team pulled together and won its first home dual meet in three years with a 39–36 win over San Pasqual on Thursday.
With Juan Oros out with a rib injury, two Jaguars won by pin, while four more earned wins to propel the Jaguars past the Eagles.
“After the 2008 Valley League/CIF team of ten seniors graduated, we began a three-year building cycle,” head coach Clay Clifford said. “With a win like this, it looks like we have turned the corner.”
Trevor Ryback earned the first pin for the Jags, pinning Brian Pansegrau in 1:19 to win the 119-pound match. Damian Stehly also won by pin, taking down Mike Anastasia in 3:43 to win the 160-pound match.
Dustin Miller started off the match with a 7–1 decision in the 103-pound match, while Zach Dewey won an 8–4 decision in the 130-pound match, Daquota Avila won by technical fall, 16–0, in the 140-pound match, and Dylan Smith won a 12–1 decision in the 171-pound match. Two Jaguars also won by forfeit, while Valley Center forfeited one match in the meet.
Then on Saturday, the Jaguars competed in the 34th annual Jim Londos Tournament at Orange Glen High School in a field of 36 schools. Overall, the Jags finished in 12th place with 64.5 points, as four wrestlers finished in the top ten in their class.
Miller led the Jaguars with a third place finish in the 104-pound class, while Smith took fifth in the 172-pound class, Stehly finished seventh in the 161-pound class and Aydin Cooper finished seventh in the 216-pound class.
Over Christmas vacation, the Valley Center wrestlers competed in the Santiago High “Shark Tank” Tournament, in a field of 56 schools, as well as the Mira Mesa Team Tournament, in a field of 12 schools.
Oros was the lone survivor of the “Shark Tank” tournament, finishing sixth. He lost a heartbreaker match in the semi-finals, falling to Coachella Valley’s Sergio Hernandez, 4–3. Ahead 3–2 with seven seconds left in the match, Oros suffered a last second takedown to end the match. In his next match, Oros sustained a rib injury, so he was pulled out of the tournament and finished sixth.
Meanwhile, Smith went 3–2 before being eliminated, and both Stehly and Cooper finished with 2–2 match records. One of the most exciting early round matches of the tournament was Cooper’s 27–22 loss to Buena Park’s Jake Wiggens. The match had the entire crowd riveted on the outcome and left both wrestlers were exhausted.
The JV wrestlers competed at the Mira Mesa Team Tournament on Dec. 30 and brought home a pair of gold medals.
John Murphy and James Oakley both went 5–0 to receive gold medals. Dewey received a silver medal for 4–1 record, while Kaulana Miller and Lorenzo Gomez received bronze medals for their 3–2 finishes.
The Jaguars are now 1–2 overall, and Thursday night at 7 p.m. is a league showdown at Orange Glen.